Thursday, December 12, 2013

400 likes! Here you go! This is a deleted chapter that comes before the epilogue in Learn to Fly. If you haven't read Learn to Fly yet, this is full of all kinds of spoilers. It's also full of some pretty heavy teasers for book 2 (In Your Honor). The link should open the document in google drive. Let me know if you have any issues with seeing it and I'll try something else.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

This is a deleted scene from the middle of Learn to Fly. It takes place over the Christmas break while Lenny id home with Duke and her family. I hope you enjoy it :)

Carl parked his old Ford towards the back of the winding driveway.
He looked through the windshield at the large, sprawling farmhouse and
grimaced. What was he thinking? He couldn't spend Christmas with his
ex-girlfriend and her whole family.
He hadn't even taken the key
out the ignition yet and was seriously considering turning the car back
on and hightailing it out of there. But then, a large orange and red formation
behind the house caught his eye. He let out a disgusted sigh and
climbed out of his vehicle. Kicking the door closed behind him, he
stomped up the gravel drive towards the backyard.
The weather
was unseasonably warm for New England and Carl was glad he wasn't
fighting snow and ice as he trudged around the corner. When the full
size of the bounce house came into view Carl let out a snort. Would
they ever grow up or were they destined to always be children?
“Carl!” Harrison had spotted him from inside the bounce house. His
brown, curly hair was already sweaty from his activity. “Get in here!”
“No!” Carl snapped, “You idiots get out of that thing! What the hell
is wrong with you? If Miranda gets here and you have this thing up
she's going to kill both of you!”
“Oh, she won't care that much!
C'mon, Carl, let us have some fun.” Harrison slowly bounced to the
opening and pouted at Carl.
“No, get out of there! You know how dangerous she thinks that thing is. Are you trying
to ruin the whole holiday?” Carl felt his palms getting itchy and he
reached into his pocket for his smokes but then remembered he'd left
them home. One more thing Miranda would have freaked out about.
“She needs to lighten up, we're adults now.” Blake called from inside the vinyl and nylon structure.
“Adults in a friggen bounce house!” Carl waved his hands in the air
and brought them down on his head. Even on his week off, he was still herding these hooligans. He closed his eyes trying to think
of a solution to their ridiculous behavior.
Carl didn't
understand a lot of things. He had no idea why Harrison and Blake had
bought this thing years ago but he suspected that Miranda hating it was
the main reason. He also didn't know why Miranda hated it so much. She
just always had. She would go into an all out tirade on the dangers and
perils of being in a bounce house and all the negative side affects
that bouncing in an unsafe structure for prolonged periods of time would
cause. It would ruin the whole day. And if she knew that Carl had
known about it she would blame him as an accomplice. And that meant
they probably wouldn't be getting back together.
Carl wasn't
even sure if reconciling with Miranda was what he wanted to do but he
wanted that option. He sure as hell didn't want his one opportunity
blown by these two dipshits.
He strode over to the blower, intent on shutting it down.
“We'll just blow it back up, Carl. Why don't you let your hair down
and try to have some fun for once.” Blake heckled as he and Harrison
giggled from the inside.
Carl paused and rethought his plan. He
reached around to his side and unclasped the button on the holster of
his buck knife. Unfolding the blade, he made a deep puncture in the
side of the house, dragging the knife all the way to the end. The air rushed out, blowing against his face. Then he
reached over and shut off the blower.
He suppressed his satisfied smile as Harrison and Blake scrambled from the rapidly deflating bounce house. They stood in silent shock as their silly endeavor lost it's life right in front of them.
Finally, they turned to go back indoors. Harrison hung his head in
sorrow and defeat, Blake patted him on the shoulder in consolation. As
they walked past Carl, Blake turned towards him, giving his manager an
icy stare.
"I hope you know you just ruined Christmas."